§ Mr. Derek TwiggTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what topics were discussed at the EU Ministerial Council on the Internal Market on 18 May; and what matters were voted upon. [44790]
§ Mrs. BeckettMy noble Friend the Minister for European Trade and Competitiveness chaired the Internal Market Council in Brussels on 18 May 1998.
The Council considered three elements of the Single Market Action Plan, which aim to improve the operation of the Single Market. Council adopted conclusions on standardisation, which open the way to making the production of European standards quicker and more efficient; the Presidency drew conclusions following a discussion on how to improve transposition and enforcement of the Single Market legislation; and the Commission presented the latest Single Market Scoreboard, which showed that Member States are improving their performance on the transposition of Single Market directives into their national laws: at 1 May 1998 over 80% of Single Market Directives had been adopted in all 15 Member States compared with only 65% in June 1997.
The Council reached political agreement on a Regulation for a Commission intervention mechanism for the elimination of certain obstacles to the free movement of goods, and an associated Council Resolution which reaffirmed Member States' political commitment to preserving the free movement of goods. This includes notifying their economic operators, each other, and the Commission, of such obstacles and steps being taken to overcome them, and respecting tight deadlines imposed by the Commission in dealing with related infraction proceedings.
The Council discussed a new Regulation on the labelling of genetically modified soya and maize, which aims to provide information to consumers. It reached political agreement on much of the substance of the company law Regulation, which forms part of the European Company Statute. It reached political agreement on three common positions. It agreed (by a qualified majority with Sweden and Portugal voting against and Ireland abstaining) on a Directive on mutual recognition of qualifications, which consolidates the existing legislation providing for certain professionals to work in Member States other than their own. It agreed common positions by unanimity on draft Directives on the legal protection of conditional access services, ie, that is, services where access is conditional upon prior authorisation and payment, such as pay-per-view TV; and on the classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous preparations, which consolidates existing health and safety legislation in this field, extending its scope slightly and promoting environmental protection.
The Council adopted four other sets of formal conclusions. These were on the Single Market for pharmaceutical products, asking the Commission to develop proposals to tackle Single Market problems; on public procurement, taking forward Commission proposals for modernisation of the rules; on Commercial Communications, endorsing a new Commission-chaired committee furthering the Single Market in advertising services; and on the improvement of the EU preferential tariff regime for certain developing countries.
323WCouncil also discussed the draft Directive on chocolate; and the Commission reported on the progress of the negotiations of a draft Directive extending product liability to primary agricultural products.